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opening times Huntingdonshire Branch of CAMRA Issue 136 the Campaign for Real Ale Autumn 2008 ROCK BOTTOM SUPERMARKET PRICES AS BUDGET HITS PUBS Also inside: London heritage pubs Pubs of the year Hunts cider packs a punch Pub Pieces Hunts food and drink festival Half Pints Booze on the Ouse, St Ives Beer Festival, Thu 11—Sat 13 Sep 2008 2 Support your local pub - don't give them an excuse to close it! ROCK BOTTOM SUPERMARKET PRICES AS BUDGET HITS PUBS Chancellor Alistair Darling’s 4p a pint duty Each party along the supply chain will increase has hit pub beer prices hard as have wanted to maintain profit margins supermarkets appear to have taken the hit and this explains price rises of up to 10%. and the price differential between pubs Around 30% of the price of a pint goes to and supermarkets continues to widen. the Treasury because beer is liable for VAT at 17.5% as well as duty. For a 4% A survey by Huntingdonshire CAMRA has alcohol pint of beer sold in a pub for shown an average increase of 12p for a £2.45, the government takes 72p, the pint of real ale in local pubs since the brewery’s total costs are 64p and retail budget hike, and in large chains of leased costs are 67p. This leaves a surplus of pubs the average increase found for stan- 42p, some of which is re-invested in pub dard cask bitters was as high as 25p a estates, for example. pint. CAMRA research indicates that 57 pubs And as the government promises to take are closing permanently every month as action on supermarket alcohol pricing, a the price differential between pubs and Huntingdonshire CAMRA survey of local supermarkets widens. Pubs provide a regulated environment for people to enjoy supermarkets in June 2008 has revealed alcohol socially and responsibly. The average prices of as low as between 79p mixed clientele found in the best commu- and 99p a pint for standard British-brewed nity pubs has an uncanny knack of re- lagers, and between 84p and £1.16 a pint straining unruly behaviour and, in conjunc- for standard bitters. tion with the watchful eye of the licensee, makes drinking in the pub a more con- Beer Average Price trolled pursuit than unregulated consump- tion away from licensed premises. Carlsberg 79p More than forty MPs have recently backed Carling 98p an Early Day Motion urging the govern- Fosters 99p ment to introducing a package of meas- ures to tackle deep discounting of alcohol John Smiths 84p sales, introduce compulsory labelling for Tetleys Smooth £1.04 alcoholic drinks and limit point of sale pro- motions. Boddingtons £1.16 Meanwhile Health Secretary Alan John- Strongbow 89p son has indicated that the government is Guinness £1.45 prepared to confront supermarkets and take mandatory action on alcohol pricing Bottled Real Ale £1.88 and promotions. Average Supermarket price found in Pubs provide a range of facilities that can Huntingdonshire area, per pint be expected to be reflected in pub prices, but many will struggle in the face of super- Although the budget increase was set at markets undercutting pub lager prices by 4p a pint, this is added to the price of beer up to £2.10 a pint. at the brewery gate. OPENING TIMES 136 AUTUMN 2008 3 ROCK BOTTOM SUPERMARKET PRICES AS BUDGET HITS PUBS Pubs are more than outlets for alcohol. blame and extra costs on to pubs as a They are the cornerstone of communities, reaction to concerns about binge drinking. places of friendship, support and fun. While this yawning chasm exists between Following the Chancellor’s budget speech supermarket and pub prices, CAMRA in March, Mike Benner, Chief Executive of believes that unregulated drinking will CAMRA said, ‘The Chancellor has failed continue and more pubs will bleed cus- to recognise that well-run community pubs tomers and die as cash-strapped custom- are the solution to Britain’s binge drinking ers consign themselves to drinking in front problems. This budget will do nothing to of the TV or on the streets. stop binge drinking, but it will lead to pub closures on a huge scale, widen the gap CAMRA has said that although the beer between supermarket and pub prices and tax hike was intended to curb binge drink- encourage smuggling and cross-border ing, it could have the opposite effect as shopping. It’s a great big nail whacked supermarkets can afford to take the hit ruthlessly into the coffin of the British pub. and their ‘rock-bottom’ prices are fuelling Britain’s binge-drinking culture. CAMRA ‘Pubs are defined as local services yet believes that the government should ban this tax rise alongside other market pres- the use of alcohol as loss leaders by su- sures will accelerate closures to unprece- permarkets instead of continually heaping dented levels. The budget shows a disre- gard for our national drink and for the 15 million people who enjoy it responsibly.’ 4 Check out local music events at www.huntscamra.org.uk/gigguide OPENING TIMES 136 AUTUMN 2008 5 A LOOK BACK IN TIME 25 YEARS AGO to the Green Man, Leighton Bromswold Charles Wells re- and the Swan at Old Weston. introduced brewing The Watney group became the first to the city of national brewing group to launch a cask Cambridge in porter. Their Hammerton Porter was autumn 1983 after named after an old Watney stout. a gap of eleven Meanwhile Wilsons, the Manchester arm years with the of the Watney group, launched cask Gold opening of their Medal, a new bitter brewed to an original new Ancient Druids gravity of 1042. pub and brewhouse. Cambridge once had over fifty In Norfolk, CAMRA officials met Watneys breweries and in 1983, Ale, the newsletter directors following a number of rural pub of CAMRA Cambridge branch, looked closures. Watneys agreed to look at forward to celebrating the existence of fifty alternative ways of keeping pubs open breweries in the city again as it such as linking them with shops or post announced the opening of the Ancient offices and flagging up poorly performing Druids. In 2008 there are three working pubs to prompt local ‘rally round your breweries in Cambridge, so there are still local’ campaigns. a few to go. Woodfordes brewery at the Spread Eagle Real ale was defined for the first time by in Erpingham, Norfolk was undergoing the Oxford English Dictionary in a 1983 reconstruction work after a fire. Meanwhile supplement, following acceptance of a Woodfordes beers were being produced definition proposed by CAMRA. The by a small brewer in Suffolk and the fire definition reads ‘A name for draught (or was to be the inspiration for Phoenix XXX, bottled) beer brewed from traditional a 1047 og cask beer that would become a ingredients, matured by secondary very popular part of the Woodforde’s fermentation in the container from which it portfolio. is dispensed, and served without the use Boddingtons Bitter came south after the of extraneous carbon dioxide; also called Manchester real ale went on sale for the “cask-conditioned” and “naturally first time in pubs in the Home Counties conditioned” beer’. CAMRA claimed that and railway station bars, where it replaced the definition would be used ‘to establish Ruddles County. our point in cases where breweries try to claim that their filtered or top-pressure dispended or canned beers are “real George and Dragon, Eaton Socon ales”.’ St Neots CAMRA held autumn meetings at the Windmill, Somersham and the George and Dragon at Eaton Socon. There were socials at the Prince of Wales in Hilton and in Southoe at the Bell and Three Horseshoes. There was also a visit 6 Find local pub music and other events www.huntscamra.org.uk/gigs A LOOK BACK IN TIME 10 YEARS AGO County Durham was saved Ten years ago Marstons brewery bought from closure after it was the Old Ferry Boat free house at Holywell, sold to a consortium of which then became tied to the Burton local businessmen who brewers. planned to re-introduce its former Nimmo's brand. Another free house, the Crown in Eaton Four years later the new Socon, became a tied house when it was Castle Eden company purchased by Scottish and Newcastle. were to buy Camerons brewery in Burtonwood brewery in Cheshire was Hartlepool and transfer production there, rescued by a merger deal. A joint venture where it continues in 2008. company was set up between Burtonwood In 1998 there was no reprieve for and the Thomas Hardy brewery in Whitbread’s Cheltenham brewery, which Dorchester. Both brewing plants were to closed on October 1st. operate as contract brewers, although there was a contract to supply St Neots CAMRA ran trips to pubs in the Burtonwood’s 500 pubs. In 2008, Bassingbourn and Abington Pigotts area Burtonwood has survived as Thomas and CAMRA’s Bedford Beer Festival and Hardy’s only brewery, mainly producing there were socials in St Ives at the Royal beer for Scottish and Newcastle. Oak and with North Bedfordshire CAMRA at the Queens Head in Sandy. The branch In the autumn of 1998 committee held open meetings at the Peterborough pub White Hart, St Ives and the Prince of entrepreneur Paul Hook Wales at Hilton. completed the move of Oakham Brewery to the CAMRA and English Heritage jointly former labour exchange in the city’s appointed former British Steel export Westgate with the opening of the Brewery sales manager Geoff Brandwood to work Tap pub and brewery. on the task of gaining listed status for pubs on CAMRA’s National Inventory of The end was nigh for Outstanding Pub Interiors.

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